


This Line's the Only Way

by slowtownskies



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots, Tyler Joseph - Fandom, josh dun - Fandom, twentyonepilots
Genre: M/M, i shiP IT IRONICALLY OKAY, its a weird idea but just go with it okay, might have some triggering stuff but ill put it in the chapter description if anything happens, scifi i guess?, youre gunna love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowtownskies/pseuds/slowtownskies
Summary: Tyler Joseph has woken up in..... well he doesn't really know where he is and his best friend, Josh Dun, who died over a year ago is sitting in front of him and doesn't even remember who he is. Josh told him he has landed in March, but how does that help?This is sort of an after-death setting????? I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT OKAY JUST READ IT AND MAYBE IT WILL MAKE SENSE??? its good i promise :-))))))) (the chapters are kinda short but im going to make them longer i promise)





	1. burning lungs and cobweb minds

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is the first fic ive posted and im going to add to it as i further develop it so yeah. dont hate me if i forget to post but like im not going to abandon it because i hate reading fics that are like actually good (this is probably horrible but you know what i mean) and then they dont finish and you never know what happens. this is a thing i just wrote for my creative writing class and i never used it so i turned it into a fic. i hope you enjoy but its okay if you hate it :-))))  
> (sorry the chapters are so short they'll get longer i promise)

Blue-black. 

That's all Tyler could see; that's all he could  _ feel.  _

It was like an ache that refused to go away. It burned inside of his chest as if he had split open his lungs trying to let more air in.

Then his vision shifted violently like the spinning of a kaleidoscope. Blue-black mixed with purple-red; fireworks of color burned the inside of his eyelids.

And then he was awake. When had he fallen asleep? Had he fallen asleep? What time was it? Where  _ was  _ he? He spun his head around wildly; there was a wooden boardwalk underneath his feet that looked endless--scratch that, he had caught a glimpse of some sort of ocean. But it was a long ways off. He tried to calm his panic by taking a deep breath of air. Which turned out to be a horrible idea. 

His lungs screamed to his head as he collapsed to the ground, his stomach muscles contracting, then heaving, as he tried to vomit. The air felt toxic inside of his body. 

It _hurt_. As he continued to breathe, his panic giving way to hyperventilation. His lungs continued to shriek at him, as if he couldn’t tell something was wrong.  It felt like his lungs were filling with fire. His head was detached from his body; floating away. Then light gave way to darkness, and he crawled back into the dark corners of his cobweb ridden mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you'd like! :-)


	2. you're dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its short i know

He was awake again. This time he was sitting in a chair and his head felt like it was going to explode. He opened his eyes groggily and then immediately shrieked; flailing his arms. Pools of mocha brown sat only a few inches away from his face. That color brought back memories and he felt pain smash his chest into pieces. Then he fell backwards in his chair. His head made a loud  _ Crack! _ As it bounced against the ground. Tyler groaned and curled into a ball his hands protecting his head, as if maybe that would somehow fix the pain that resounded deep in his skull. 

“Hey are you okay? Your head made a pretty loud cracking noise. Are you bleeding at all?”

Tyler froze his instincts kicking in telling him to ignore the pain in his skull and run. But instead he opened his eyes extremely slowly and saw a person with hair the color of the sky leaning over him with a concerned look.  _ No _ .  _ Nonononononono. NO!  _ He knew who it was. He knew he was dreaming. This  _ was _ a dream right? Tyler laughed to himself and sat up, “I'm going to wake up in a minute. This is just a stupid nightmare. This  _ has  _ to be a nightmare.” Then he turned to his best friend with a grin, 

“Obviously i'm dreaming because you're dead.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you'd like! :-)


	3. "Do I know you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i suck at chapter titles okay? this one is a longer chapter at least

Tyler laughed again. How stupid was he? This has been a nightmare all along! He would wake up and go pour a bowl of cereal in a couple of minutes, then everything would be back to normal. But that didn't happen. So he started to panic again. He pinched his arms, digging his fingernails into his skin leaving crescent moon shaped dents of pain, he tugged on his hair trying,  _ willing _ himself awake. Nothing. He was still sitting on the ground with his head throbbing, and his dead friend sitting a few feet away from him. 

“Where am I?” He asked softly his voice shaking. 

Josh cocked his head and leaned forward, “You know, you look familiar.” 

He twirled his sky blue hair around his fingers, a look of concentration clouded his face as he stared intently at Tyler, 

“Do I know you?” 

Tyler wanted to scream at him but he settled for deadly calm, “Tell me where I am. Right  _ now _ .” 

Josh smirked, and Tyler felt his lungs start to over work, sending his head into a sea of nausea, he groaned and bent over cradling his skull between his knees. He opened his eyes as wide as they would go; blinking rapidly, trying to regain some sort of normalcy in his vision as the floor spun beneath him, 

He moaned, “Why do I feel so sick?” as his head continued to explode from the inside out with each breath. Josh was now sitting on the countertop that Tyler had not noticed,  _ we must be in the kitchen of his house?  _ Tyler thought to himself. 

Josh let another innocent smile cross his face, “That's just how it is when you live in March. Everybody's always sick because we’re all dying.” Tyler looked up at him from across the room his face shaded with fury, “What do you _mean_ dying? You’re already dead! You died a year ago! You can't be dying again. _You're_ _already dead Josh_.” 

His head exploded in a new shower of excruciating pain as memories flooded into his head, making the callous he had built over the best-friend-shaped-hole in his heart feel as if it had been slit open and had salt ground into the wound. Tyler bent over again as his stomach tried once again to puke up nothing. He gagged again and again as his muscles contracted and heaved trying to force something out. Trying to get rid of all the pain he felt inside his chest. Maybe if he threw up he would feel better? Too bad his stomach was empty. He stopped heaving for a minute, breathing in and out heavily,  _ Finally i'm done “throwing up.”  _ Then the words he had just spit came rushing back to his tongue,  _ “You're already dead Josh.”  _ Muscles contract. Heave. Muscles contract. Heave. In. Out. In. Out. Empty, empty, empty. Blackness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you'd like! :-)


	4. monsters can't get you if you're under the blankets right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (should I be like putting stuff here??? like is it helpful to know what going to happen or is it better a surprise??? I dont know hahaha i dont know what im doing someone help)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this is all i have done of this fic so far, ill be adding to it later. please give me feedback! Its extremely helpful when given feedback because then I know what to change, edit, fix, etc. Thanks for reading (if anybody actually reads this) !!

Tyler had passed out. He was now awake and trying to figure out where he was. Oh right! He had, had a horrible dream and now he was back in his bed. Safe. 

He yawned once and rubbed his eyes before rolling out of bed groggily. He stood up, stretched, and then began to make his way to the door gradually as his room was pitch black. Was it always this dark? He walked past the window then froze and backed up slowly and looked outside. 

The night was black and no stars shone through the dark clouds that rumbled past, Tyler couldn’t see anything in his room except for the window, and outside of the window he could only make out two things. The moon that looked too big for the sky and shone a little too bright, and the creatures that were hunched over and limping around. The black shadow-like creatures with nine eyes, all white minus two red. Two glowing red eyes that shone too bright and made the night seem much too long. 

Tyler stood petrified, watching as the shadow creatures limped about letting out soft groaning sounds and maniacal laughter. He stumbled back from the window as realization flooded his system, he was not home. He was here. He didn't know where “here” was but he was here. Then he heard the door creak open. He flung himself back onto the bed and burrowed under the duvet. Monsters can’t get you if you're under the blankets, right?


	5. The Blurs

 

Tyler pulled the duvet tight around his body. Those…  _ things  _ couldn’t get inside right? Josh would have told him about creepy shadow creatures, that sound like dying souls, that come inside and wander through the house.  _ Right?  _

 

The air under the blankets began to grow stale as Tyler’s rapid breathing began to take up what was left of the fresh air. He had two choices, face whatever was outside of the blanket, or continue to breathe in his own carbon dioxide until he passed out. 

 

He sighed and closed his eyes tight before sitting up and throwing the blankets off of his head. Then he heard an explosion of laughter, 

“Scared of the Blurs huh?” Another round of soft snorty giggles. 

 

It was Josh. 

 

Tyler opened his eyes, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment as he stared at Josh, who was leaning against the doorway, “Oh what would you rather me do when I see some weird...  _ things _ walking around outside? Would you rather me go embrace them? Go give them hugs and kisses?” 

 

Josh smirked and shook his head, “I wouldn’t see you as someone who would want to go hug and kiss dead souls. Is that like a kink or something? You like to kiss dead people? That's pretty sketchy dude.” 

 

Tyler scrunched his nose up as he stared at Josh throwing all the sarcasm he could into his words, 

“Yeah obviously I  _ love _ to kiss dead people.” He added an eye roll on to the end of his sentence before thinking about what Josh had said, “What do you mean dead souls?”

 

Josh snickered again and walked over next to Tyler and leaned down close whispering softly and making the hairs on Tyler’s neck dance, 

_ “If you’re not afraid of the dark i’ll show you.” _

Then he flicked on the lamp next to the bed practically melting Tyler’s eyeballs, “Dude! You didn’t even give my eyes time to adjust! What the hell man!”

  
Josh let out another giggle and then walked back to the doorway, “You got five minutes to get up then i'm leaving!” The door closed and Tyler was sat alone blinking rapidly trying to get his eyes to adjust. Screams and moans shattered the quiet night air as the Blurs, as Josh had called them, sang to the moon. 


	6. "Dude we're perfectly fine."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter is probably going to be a long one and its, well.. interesting to say the least.

Tyler followed Josh down the path that led from his front door out into the open. Tyler was wringing his hands together violently as Josh walked confidently in front of him before stopping and turning around to whisper, 

 

“When we get into the open you have to be really quiet and do everything I say okay?” 

 

Tyler nodded dumbly, his nerves taut. This was a good idea right? Let his best friend lead him around places when his “best friend” didn’t even remember who he was? And he was dead? Why wouldn’t it be a good idea? 

 

Josh grinned at him, as thoughts swirled around in Tyler’s mind knocking against the walls of his skull, 

 

“Earth to Tyler? Where's your mind at spaceman?” 

 

Tyler snapped out of his zone and raised an eyebrow, “How do you remember my name? I don't remember ever telling you it. And you said you didn't know who I was right?” 

Josh scrunched his forehead together, 

 

“I-I don’t know, it just kinda happened I guess?” He shrugged, “It just felt natural. So I said it. It was almost like breathing. You just do it without ever really acknowledging it. So that's what I did.”

 

Tyler shook his head, “Whatever. Let’s just go.”

When Josh had said his name it made Tyler feel weird, like his insides were filled with molten silver. It didn’t feel normal to hear his best friend say his name after almost a year of not seeing him or hearing his voice. 

 

Tyler turned his eyes to Josh to see him leaning against one of the posts that stood at the end of the pathway, 

 

“I wonder if…” He trailed off his fingers tangled in his hair pulling at it as he stared at nothing in particular. 

 

“You wonder what?” 

 

Josh shook his head lightly a smile tingeing his lips, “Nothing, nevermind. Let’s go!” 

Then he walked straight out into the open and stood silhouetted by the moon. And Tyler followed. Reluctantly that is.  “Are you sure it’s okay to be out here with those…  _ things _ walking around?” 

Josh snorted, “We’ll be perfectly fine if you would please stop talking so loudly.” 

Tyler sighed and held himself back from retorting with a snarky comment then he felt something stir the air behind his back. And it wasn't wind. So he started to whisper-scream at Josh and tug at his tee-shirt,

 

“Josh! Something was just behind me!” 

 

Josh let out a huff of breath, “Dude we’re perfectly fine.” 

There was a  _ whoosh!  _ of air and then the air was filled with groaning noises and the shuffling of limping feet. 

 

They were surrounded by Blurs. 

 

Tyler jabbed Josh in the chest with his elbow and mumbled,

  
“Perfectly fine huh?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you'd like! :)


	7. under clothes under skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im sorry im so bad at coming up with chapter names

   After Tyler spoke the Blurs grew silent. And everything went still. They didn’t move. They didn’t breath. They did nothing.  
  


“Josh can they hurt us?”

 

Josh didn’t answer. So Tyler poked him with his elbow again, “Josh? Can they hurt us?”  
  


“Um so maybe I wasn’t totally honest with you? But as of now i'm being completely honest and um, I don't really know. There’s stories about them but um, I don't know if their true.”

Tyler groaned softly, “You’ve got to be kidding. Please, I am begging you to tell me that you’re joking. You are joking right?”

 

Josh didn't answer.

 

Tyler began to seethe with anger, 

“After we die or whatever the hell happens to us when these things decide to attack, I'm going to kill you again.” He heard Josh let out a small laugh. What a jerk.

_ We’ll be perfectly fine! He says. How could Josh be this stupid? He said we would be fine and now look at us. _  
  


Tyler shuffled around so he was back to back with Josh. He wanted them to be able to see a full 360°.  It was a silent stare down for a full three minutes before a soft humming started to fill the air,  
  


“Josh! What’s that? What are they doing?”  
  


Josh scoffed, “How do you expect me to know?”

 

“Well you are the one who said we were perfectly fine.”

 

“Shut up Tyler.”

 

Then the Blurs started to move.

 

One by one they shuffled around Tyler and Josh before all except for one walked away. It stood in the funny, hunched over way they all did and limped up to Tyler. He held his breath afraid any slight movement would cause his death.

 

The thing smelled like death.

Like rotting meat and old fish guts that had been in the sun for nine weeks. It smelled horrible.

The Blur in front of Tyler wasn't making any noise, it was just staring at him with unblinking, glowing eyes. Until it leaned in close and whispered out of some invisible mouth,

_ “Under clothes, under skin, underneath we’re all the same, for when you remove the tricky tricks only skeleton bones remain.” _

 

Finally it let out a bloodcurdling shriek and took off limping as fast as if could to catch up with it's friends.  
  


They were alone.

The first thing Tyler did was run. He broke out into a sprint across the moonlit emptiness. His mind had overloaded and now his only response was to run. So that's what he did.

He ran.

He heard Josh yell for him to stop but it didn't register. 

 

So he continued to run until he heard the sound of pounding footsteps behind him and then got tackled to the ground by Josh.

He squirmed around trying to get out from underneath him as Josh pinned his chest to the ground with his knees,

 

“Let! Me! Go!”

 

He screamed and beat his fists against anything he could hit. Josh’s knees, the ground, and just about everything else around them. He squirmed  and writhed as Josh sat on his chest until his breathing started too slow and his heart stopped skipping beats.  Josh lifted his knees off of Tyler and sat down on the ground next to him and started to speak softly, 

“You okay?”

   Instead of answering Tyler started to cry. He didn't move from his spot on the ground he laid there and quietly cried for a few minutes before he felt himself being lifted up and carried, as Josh started to walk away from where they had been sitting. 

 

“We’re almost there okay?” 

 

Tyler nodded silently and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes before wriggling out from Josh’s grip and walking next to him as they made their way to wherever Josh was taking them. 

 

Neither of them spoke as they walked up to a tall building. Josh held open the door as Tyler walked in, even though they were inside Tyler felt like he still had to whisper,  “Where are we?” 

  
Josh sighed softly, “This is where we find out how you died.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment with suggestions, questions, concerns etc thanks for reading! :D


	8. "Were you staring at my butt Joseph?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! this chapter has some potentially triggering themes but the part where it is is enclosed in **** on each end of the blurb. So when you get to the **** in the chapter after that there is some potentially triggering stuff but then after the second **** its some mild fluff so yeah. the only thing you would miss if you skip this chapter is just a small scene showing how Tyler died and that's about it.  
> Stay safe and I hope you have a great day! :D   
> (lol sorry about the chapter title i thought that was literally the funniest thing in this entire chapter)

Tyler stumbled, taken aback by Josh’s statement, “How I died? You’re the one who died! I'm not dead. I can't be dead. Right? Of course not. I can’t be dead. I can’t be dead.” 

 

Josh raised an eyebrow, “You're not going to bolt again are you?” 

Tyler shot him a dirty look and then shook his head. He wouldn’t run. At least not for now he wouldn’t. 

 

“So if I died then how come I don't remember it?” Tyler questioned. 

 

Josh laughed,  _ God his laugh was adorable _ . 

 

Tyler mentally slapped himself. He was supposed to be mad at Josh. Not praising how adorable his laugh was, although it  _ was  _ pretty cute…  _ NO! _

 

“Well the only reason you don’t remember is because you died. It's like when you're falling asleep, nobody remembers the exact moment they fall asleep. A select few do remember how they died without ever coming to this building but those people don’t get a chance to live in March.” 

 

Tyler tilted his head confused and opened his mouth to ask a question but Josh held up his hand to stop him, 

 

“Stories say that those people are the ones who turn into Blurs. Their minds eat their souls alive because they can’t stand knowing how they died the moment they get here. It tears them apart knowing they left their families, friends, pets and stuff so they go mad trying to get out of here and back to life but it doesn't work that way.” 

Josh looked down and scuffed the dirty floor with the toe of his sneakers before whispering, 

 

“You can't ever go back.” 

 

Tyler nodded as if he understood what Josh was reminiscing, 

“Can we find out how I died? I still kind of don't believe that I'm dead but if I am then I wanna see.” 

 

Josh grinned at him, C major lips curling around pearly white teeth, 

“Come along ukulele boy, let’s find out how you died.” He took a step, paused, sighed, then continued to walk while mumbling to himself, 

 

“How do I remember that?” 

 

\----

 

After following Josh up a winding staircase and through a few doors they came to a small room that held a couple of worn out chairs, a projector, a projector screen, a computer, and what looked like some sort of printer. 

Tyler plopped into a worn leather chair while Josh walked up the computer and bent over plugging all the wires into the wall. 

Tyler stared at his back while he plugged in the computer, 

 

_ Damn Josh has a cute butt.  _

 

_ NONONONONONONO! STOP THINKING. NO. NO. NO. STOP IT TYLER. NOW IS NOT THE TIME. _

 

Tyler coughed and ran his fingers through his hair trying to rid his face of the unmistakeable red glow of embarrassment. 

 

Josh stood up turning his head to look at Tyler with a grin, “Were you staring at my butt Joseph?” 

 

Tylers ears felt like they were on fire as he started to stutter out a response, “W-what? Are you c-crazy? How do you remember my last name?” 

 

Thank God, something to change the topic. 

 

Josh shook his head still grinning, his eyes doing that squinchy thing that's super hot and adorable at the same time, “No idea. But I could see you staring at my ass so don't deny it.” He typed in Tyler’s name into the computer and there was a loud whirring and then the printer spit out a small red plastic rectangle, Josh picked it up and showed it to a still red faced Tyler, 

 

“This is a tape of your death. Don’t ask how it got filmed, or how this works, because nobody knows.” 

 

Josh walked over to projector and slid the tape into it, pressed play then picked up Tyler and tossed him gently onto a faded red couch that was closest to the screen before flopping onto the couch next to him.    
“I could have got up myself you know. And you don’t have to stay in here if it's my death.” Tyler mumbled. 

 

“Dude you need moral support. It’s hard watching yourself die. And I need to make sure you don't bolt on me again.” He was smiling again but this time it was a soft smile. Warm. A perfect smile on perfect lips. Tyler stared at him feeling his ears heat up once again. 

 

_ Kiss him.  _

 

Tyler scoffed at his own thoughts. Was he insane? Probably. He didn't remember ever thinking about Josh like this. Well, he always thought that Josh had a nice body but that was  _ painfully  _ obvious. He could never just tell Josh that he liked him. What would Josh even do? 

 

_ “Hi Josh can I just you know, kiss you?” _

 

Josh would probably feed him to the Blurs after he tore him apart limb by limb. Oh well. 

 

Josh nudged Tyler with his elbow, “Ty it's starting.” Tyler swallowed and nodded his head, turning his attention to his own death. 

  
  


****

 

_ “I can't sleep Josh.” _

 

The film was dark but Tyler could make out his room and his own body that was laying on his bed crying and talking to himself softly. 

 

_ “I miss you.”  _

 

It wasn’t even like Tyler was watching a film. He was in his room. He was standing next to himself. He was there. 

 

_ “I can't stay here anymore Josh.”  _

 

Tyler felt tears begin to well up in his eyes as the pain of Josh's loss seemed all too fresh in his chest. 

 

_ “I'm coming to be with you Josh. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't stay here anymore. I can't live without you.”  _

 

Tyler felt his lungs shatter as he watched himself get up out of his bed, grab a pen and paper, then creep past his parents bedroom and walk to the bathroom. He had been living with his parents for the last year because they were worried about him staying alone so they had practically begged him to stay with them. 

 

The hallway filled with yellow light as Tyler flicked on the light and shut the door, locking it behind him. 

He was whispering to himself the same phrase over and over, 

 

_ “I’ll be there soon Josh.”  _

 

Tyler was sobbing. He was falling apart. He couldn’t breathe. Drowning. 

He watched himself scribble the words, ‘You know how much I missed him. I love you Mom and Dad.’ onto a sheet of notebook paper.

 

He opened the cupboard above the sink and took out a bottle of aspirin. Shaking hands uncapped it and Tyler watched as he tipped it over, pills rolling into his hand creating a palm full of goodbye. 

Deep down, he didn't want to have to do it. He wished he could just bring Josh back. 

 

But it didn't work that way. 

One by one he watched himself swallow pill after pill until they were gone. Then he laid down on the bathroom floor and started to hum a wordless song. And then his breathing slowed and he whispered Josh’s name before his eyes rolled back into his head. 

 

And he died.

 

****

 

The film cut off and the room grew dark. Tyler was curled into a ball, sobbing and shaking, when Josh pulled him into his lap hugging him tight to his chest. Tyler wrapped his arms around Josh and continued to sob, his breathing choked. He could feel Josh’s chest bucking underneath his arms. He was crying too.

 

Tyler felt horrible. Josh didn't remember how much Tyler had platonically loved him. And he didn't even know how much Tyler  _ really  _ loved him. He’d never known. 

 

With a choked sob Tyler leaned back from Josh’s chest and looked at him, eyes blurry from tears, 

 

“I-I-I-I.” 

 

He couldn’t even spit out words he was hyperventilating so hard. He tried again after take a few deep breaths and counting to ten a couple of times, 

 

“I-I’m so-o-orry. I-I l-o-ove yo-ou.” 

 

He didn't want to say that. He was just going for the ‘I'm sorry,’ But he couldn’t get those three words out of his head. As if his head were a broken record those three words kept playing over and over and over.  _ I love you, I love you, I love you.  _

Josh hiccupped and kissed Tylers forehead before nuzzling his neck and stuttering out, 

“I love you too.” 

 

Tyler felt fireworks explode in his chest. He felt like he was on fire and freezing all at the same time. 

  
For being dead he’d never felt more alive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think im just going to ask you guys some questions for maybe potential fics in the future from now on :D 
> 
> Do you like happy endings or sad ones?


	9. "Hi."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay i'm so sorry i haven't posted in like twenty years. i had to take a break from writing due to not having any ideas and wanting to die. i'm going to get more chapters written and have them all stocked up then release them periodically. thanks for dealing with me being a horrible procrastinator. 
> 
> stay safe and stay alive |-/ 
> 
> -slowtownskies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BY THE WAY! THIS CHAPTER IS IN JOSH'S POV SO DON'T BE CONFUSED!! I only did it that way because I felt like it,,, if thats a good enough reason :-/

After they had both finished crying for a good while, Tyler fell asleep. Josh didn't mind, he  _ had _ just went through a lot.  Tyler head was laying in Josh’s lap and Josh was running his fingers through Tyler’s hair. 

As he slept, Tyler kept making soft noises and mumbling quiet words to himself, Josh couldn’t help but stare at him, tracing his fingertips along the edge of his jaw, down the bridge of his nose, around the curve of his almond shaped eyes, the outline of his murmuring lips. 

 

How could Josh have forgotten who he was? How could he have forgotten his face?

 

Josh traced the outline of his pale pink lips again. Round, and round. 

 

Perfect, perfect, perfect. 

 

Josh’s mind began to wander and whenever that happened it always drifted to the accident. 

 

\----

 

_ Josh was out having fun. Loud music and laughter floated out of the windows of the car.  _

_ Josh was with a couple of friends and they had went out to a bar and hung out for a couple of hours before deciding to head back to the hotel everyone had been staying at. They had drank quite a bit but one of the people Josh was with had stayed sober enough to drive.  _

_ They came up to an intersection and the light went green. Good to go.  _

 

_ Well, it should have been good to go.  _

 

_ A black truck came barreling through the intersection just as they were crossing.  _

 

_ T-boned.  _

 

_ Screaming ensued as the two cars collided and the crunch of metal and shattering of glass filled the air. Josh felt his head get thrown back and then something smashed again the side of his skull  heard a loud crack and felt excruciating pain explode through his head.  _

 

_ Everything went black.  _

\----

That was when Josh had woken up in March. He shuddered, remembering the pain that had split through his head. 

He was the reason Tyler was here. He did this to him. And now he was crying all over again. Tyler stirred and Josh held his breath, he hadn’t wanted to wake him up. Tyler stopped moving and then his eyelids cracked open. Crap. 

 

Tyler broke into a lopsided grin and raised his hand in a half wave, “Hi.” 

 

Josh let all the air leave his lungs, “Hi.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter is really short and really crappy.


	10. Reverse the Red and It'll be Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for not posting guys, im literally a rat

Tyler and Josh were leaving the building just as the soft light of dawn began to shroud everything in a flat yellow glow. 

They walked quietly for a few minutes before Tyler mumbled something and stopped walking. 

 

Josh turned to look at him, raising his eyebrow, “What?”

 

He shook his head, “The air it…” 

He shook his head again as if he were trying to rid himself of a bad memory, “The air tastes like pennies and smells like blood. That can't be good right?” 

 

Josh inhaled deeply then gagged, “Well it's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means we’re close to the village.”

 

They continued walking and the smell grew stronger as they grew closer to a mess of buildings, and were soon walking through what was the center of the makeshift town. 

 

Tyler coughed violently, fighting the urge to vomit,  “So what even is this place?

 

Josh shrugged and kicked a loose rock and watched it skitter across the worn pavement, 

 

“Well this is where everybody else lives.” 

 

They were standing in the center of the town now. Few people mingled about, some looked to be a thousand years old while others were just small children. 

 

They were all trudging around and mingling through the mess of what looked like small shops set up. Some were bickering over prices while others just stood gossiping. 

 

“So,” Tyler felt like he had to try and spit out his lungs, the air smelled like burning trash, “why are we here again?”

 

Josh grinned and then began to scan the town square, “Well I wanted you to meet some of the friends i’ve made here, but I just really don't want to have to deal with-”

Josh was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream. An old lady came running out of a house followed by a young girl, 

 

“ _ Ma’am please _ !” 

 

The old lady was standing in the middle of the town square and eyeing everyone maliciously. The market had gone silent and people stood staring back at this woman, 

 

“They always get you!” 

 

She began to laugh quietly which quickly turned into a high pitched wail. She was running through the crowds, laughing and screaming. Josh was yelling and tugging at Tyler’s shirt trying to drag him away, telling him that they  _ had  _ to go right now. Tyler shook him off and just stood. Watching. 

 

The lady ran up to Tyler and then he could see what was wrong. She looked like she was disintegrating. Her skin was a faded ashy black color and her facial features looked like they were starting to disappear. Without having to have Josh tell him Tyler knew. This lady was turning into a Blur.

“Oh what a pretty little boy you are!” She was touching Tyler’s face now. Dragging her fingertips and yellowed fingernails across his cheeks and down his neck. She smiled and Tyler could see she had approximately six teeth left and each one looked black as tar. 

 

She was gripping his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin, but he couldn’t move. Tyler felt transfixed even though he could hear Josh screaming at him. The lady’s smiled turned into a frown and she turned her eyes to the ground and started to whisper. Tyler couldn’t figure out if she was talking to herself or if she was talking to Tyler. She kept saying the same thing over and over, 

 

“I have to go back. I have to go back. I have to go back. I have to go back…” 

Tyler suddenly felt very melancholy. This woman just wanted to go back to her family. But it didn’t work that way. She looked up from the ground, lips pursed, 

“Don’t let the memories take you.”

 

Tyler nodded curtly and whispered, “You can’t go back you know.” 

The woman looked shocked and then began to scream, 

“I HAVE TO GO! I HAVE TO GO! I HAVE TO GO!” 

Spit flew from her mouth and her eyes were flecked with anger as she howled. Tyler knew she was trying to fight the urge to want to go back. Trying to fight the Blur. He felt his throat constrict with sadness, 

“Go away.” 

The woman let go of his shoulders and crumpled to the ground, crying, as her body convulsed, 

“DON'T! LET! THEM! TAKE! YOUUUUUUU!” 

Her throat sounded like it was ripping apart as she screamed each word with everything she had.  

Tyler covered his ears and began to scream back, 

“LEAVE! ME! ALONE!” 

They lady shrieked one last time before her skin burned like paper and she became a Blur. 

The being that now took place of the lady stood up, it would have risen well over eight feet if it hadn’t stood so hunched over. It looked around with all nine of it's eyes and then leaned close to Tyler’s face, it's skin reeking of burnt hair. It let out a mumbling of garbled sounds mixed with snatches of words. Like a broken radio. Then as if it had found the right frequency it uttered one thing before limping off to the shadows, 

“ _ The blues never gone. Reverse the red, it’ll be blue. Fight off your demon, and you’ll see the hue.” _


End file.
